pretty-format

Stringify any JavaScript value.

Serialize built-in JavaScript types.
Serialize application-specific data types with built-in or user-defined plugins.

Installation

$ yarn add pretty-format

Usage

const {format: prettyFormat} = require('pretty-format'); // CommonJS

import {format as prettyFormat} from 'pretty-format'; // ES2015 modules

const val = {object: {}};
val.circularReference = val;
val[Symbol('foo')] = 'foo';
val.map = new Map([['prop', 'value']]);
val.array = [-0, Infinity, NaN];

console.log(prettyFormat(val));
/*
Object {
  "array": Array [
    -0,
    Infinity,
    NaN,
  ],
  "circularReference": [Circular],
  "map": Map {
    "prop" => "value",
  },
  "object": Object {},
  Symbol(foo): "foo",
}
*/

Usage with options

function onClick() {}

console.log(prettyFormat(onClick));
/*
[Function onClick]
*/

const options = {
  printFunctionName: false,
};
console.log(prettyFormat(onClick, options));
/*
[Function]
*/

key	type	default	description
`callToJSON`	`boolean`	`true`	call `toJSON` method (if it exists) on objects
`compareKeys`	`function\\|null`	`undefined`	compare function used when sorting object keys, `null` can be used to skip over sorting
`escapeRegex`	`boolean`	`false`	escape special characters in regular expressions
`escapeString`	`boolean`	`true`	escape special characters in strings
`highlight`	`boolean`	`false`	highlight syntax with colors in terminal (some plugins)
`indent`	`number`	`2`	spaces in each level of indentation
`maxDepth`	`number`	`Infinity`	levels to print in arrays, objects, elements, and so on
`maxWidth`	`number`	`Infinity`	number of elements to print in arrays, sets, and so on
`min`	`boolean`	`false`	minimize added space: no indentation nor line breaks
`plugins`	`array`	`[]`	plugins to serialize application-specific data types
`printBasicPrototype`	`boolean`	`false`	print the prototype for plain objects and arrays
`printFunctionName`	`boolean`	`true`	include or omit the name of a function
`theme`	`object`		colors to highlight syntax in terminal

Property values of theme are from ansi-styles colors

const DEFAULT_THEME = {
  comment: 'gray',
  content: 'reset',
  prop: 'yellow',
  tag: 'cyan',
  value: 'green',
};

Usage with plugins

The pretty-format package provides some built-in plugins, including:

ReactElement for elements from react
ReactTestComponent for test objects from react-test-renderer

// CommonJS
const React = require('react');
const renderer = require('react-test-renderer');
const {format: prettyFormat, plugins} = require('pretty-format');

const {ReactElement, ReactTestComponent} = plugins;

// ES2015 modules and destructuring assignment
import React from 'react';
import renderer from 'react-test-renderer';
import {plugins, format as prettyFormat} from 'pretty-format';

const {ReactElement, ReactTestComponent} = plugins;

const onClick = () => {};
const element = React.createElement('button', {onClick}, 'Hello World');

const formatted1 = prettyFormat(element, {
  plugins: [ReactElement],
  printFunctionName: false,
});
const formatted2 = prettyFormat(renderer.create(element).toJSON(), {
  plugins: [ReactTestComponent],
  printFunctionName: false,
});
/*
<button
  onClick=[Function]
>
  Hello World
</button>
*/

Usage in Jest

For snapshot tests, Jest uses pretty-format with options that include some of its built-in plugins. For this purpose, plugins are also known as snapshot serializers.

To serialize application-specific data types, you can add modules to devDependencies of a project, and then:

In an individual test file, you can add a module as follows. It precedes any modules from Jest configuration.

import serializer from 'my-serializer-module';
expect.addSnapshotSerializer(serializer);

// tests which have `expect(value).toMatchSnapshot()` assertions

For all test files, you can specify modules in Jest configuration. They precede built-in plugins for React, HTML, and Immutable.js data types. For example, in a package.json file:

{
  "jest": {
    "snapshotSerializers": ["my-serializer-module"]
  }
}

Writing plugins

A plugin is a JavaScript object.

If options has a plugins array: for the first plugin whose test(val) method returns a truthy value, then prettyFormat(val, options) returns the result from either:

serialize(val, …) method of the improved interface (available in version 21 or later)
print(val, …) method of the original interface (if plugin does not have serialize method)

test

Write test so it can receive val argument of any type. To serialize objects which have certain properties, then a guarded expression like val != null && … or more concise val && … prevents the following errors:

TypeError: Cannot read property 'whatever' of null
TypeError: Cannot read property 'whatever' of undefined

For example, test method of built-in ReactElement plugin:

const elementSymbol = Symbol.for('react.element');
const test = val => val && val.$$typeof === elementSymbol;

Pay attention to efficiency in test because pretty-format calls it often.

serialize

The improved interface is available in version 21 or later.

Write serialize to return a string, given the arguments:

val which “passed the test”
unchanging config object: derived from options
current indentation string: concatenate to indent from config
current depth number: compare to maxDepth from config
current refs array: find circular references in objects
printer callback function: serialize children

config

key	type	description
`callToJSON`	`boolean`	call `toJSON` method (if it exists) on objects
`compareKeys`	`function\\|null`	compare function used when sorting object keys, `null` can be used to skip over sorting
`colors`	`Object`	escape codes for colors to highlight syntax
`escapeRegex`	`boolean`	escape special characters in regular expressions
`escapeString`	`boolean`	escape special characters in strings
`indent`	`string`	spaces in each level of indentation
`maxDepth`	`number`	levels to print in arrays, objects, elements, and so on
`min`	`boolean`	minimize added space: no indentation nor line breaks
`plugins`	`array`	plugins to serialize application-specific data types
`printFunctionName`	`boolean`	include or omit the name of a function
`spacingInner`	`string`	spacing to separate items in a list
`spacingOuter`	`string`	spacing to enclose a list of items

Each property of colors in config corresponds to a property of theme in options:

the key is the same (for example, tag)
the value in colors is a object with open and close properties whose values are escape codes from ansi-styles for the color value in theme (for example, 'cyan')

Some properties in config are derived from min in options:

spacingInner and spacingOuter are newline if min is false
spacingInner is space and spacingOuter is empty string if min is true

Example of serialize and test

This plugin is a pattern you can apply to serialize composite data types. Side note: pretty-format does not need a plugin to serialize arrays.

// We reused more code when we factored out a function for child items
// that is independent of depth, name, and enclosing punctuation (see below).
const SEPARATOR = ',';
function serializeItems(items, config, indentation, depth, refs, printer) {
  if (items.length === 0) {
    return '';
  }
  const indentationItems = indentation + config.indent;
  return (
    config.spacingOuter +
    items
      .map(
        item =>
          indentationItems +
          printer(item, config, indentationItems, depth, refs), // callback
      )
      .join(SEPARATOR + config.spacingInner) +
    (config.min ? '' : SEPARATOR) + // following the last item
    config.spacingOuter +
    indentation
  );
}

const plugin = {
  test(val) {
    return Array.isArray(val);
  },
  serialize(array, config, indentation, depth, refs, printer) {
    const name = array.constructor.name;
    return ++depth > config.maxDepth
      ? `[${name}]`
      : `${config.min ? '' : `${name} `}[${serializeItems(
          array,
          config,
          indentation,
          depth,
          refs,
          printer,
        )}]`;
  },
};

const val = {
  filter: 'completed',
  items: [
    {
      text: 'Write test',
      completed: true,
    },
    {
      text: 'Write serialize',
      completed: true,
    },
  ],
};

console.log(
  prettyFormat(val, {
    plugins: [plugin],
  }),
);
/*
Object {
  "filter": "completed",
  "items": Array [
    Object {
      "completed": true,
      "text": "Write test",
    },
    Object {
      "completed": true,
      "text": "Write serialize",
    },
  ],
}
*/

console.log(
  prettyFormat(val, {
    indent: 4,
    plugins: [plugin],
  }),
);
/*
Object {
    "filter": "completed",
    "items": Array [
        Object {
            "completed": true,
            "text": "Write test",
        },
        Object {
            "completed": true,
            "text": "Write serialize",
        },
    ],
}
*/

console.log(
  prettyFormat(val, {
    maxDepth: 1,
    plugins: [plugin],
  }),
);
/*
Object {
  "filter": "completed",
  "items": [Array],
}
*/

console.log(
  prettyFormat(val, {
    min: true,
    plugins: [plugin],
  }),
);
/*
{"filter": "completed", "items": [{"completed": true, "text": "Write test"}, {"completed": true, "text": "Write serialize"}]}
*/

print

The original interface is adequate for plugins:

that do not depend on options other than highlight or min
that do not depend on depth or refs in recursive traversal, and
if values either
- do not require indentation, or
- do not occur as children of JavaScript data structures (for example, array)

Write print to return a string, given the arguments:

val which “passed the test”
current printer(valChild) callback function: serialize children
current indenter(lines) callback function: indent lines at the next level
unchanging config object: derived from options
unchanging colors object: derived from options

The 3 properties of config are min in options and:

spacing and edgeSpacing are newline if min is false
spacing is space and edgeSpacing is empty string if min is true

Each property of colors corresponds to a property of theme in options:

the key is the same (for example, tag)
the value in colors is a object with open and close properties whose values are escape codes from ansi-styles for the color value in theme (for example, 'cyan')

Example of print and test

This plugin prints functions with the number of named arguments excluding rest argument.

const plugin = {
  print(val) {
    return `[Function ${val.name || 'anonymous'} ${val.length}]`;
  },
  test(val) {
    return typeof val === 'function';
  },
};

const val = {
  onClick(event) {},
  render() {},
};

prettyFormat(val, {
  plugins: [plugin],
});
/*
Object {
  "onClick": [Function onClick 1],
  "render": [Function render 0],
}
*/

prettyFormat(val);
/*
Object {
  "onClick": [Function onClick],
  "render": [Function render],
}
*/

This plugin ignores the printFunctionName option. That limitation of the original print interface is a reason to use the improved serialize interface, described above.

prettyFormat(val, {
  plugins: [pluginOld],
  printFunctionName: false,
});
/*
Object {
  "onClick": [Function onClick 1],
  "render": [Function render 0],
}
*/

prettyFormat(val, {
  printFunctionName: false,
});
/*
Object {
  "onClick": [Function],
  "render": [Function],
}
*/

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